If the situation was reversed, do you think they would call foul on Kobe?

Of course not, it would be a flagrant foul on Bibby.

In 9 out of 10 situations it would be a flagrant foul on player who elbowed other player. Except in Kobe's case because he's too big of a star. And Lakers had to win that game.

 

Probably not. But I've seen him get elbowed, hit, grabbed etc. with no foul called before too. In my opinon it evens out

 

Also, here's a stat for the entire 2008-2009 season. Over the season, the Lakers only averaged shooting 1.9 free throws more than their opponents. If the calls were always for the Lakers or Kobe this margin would be much greater

 

So the Lakers lead the league in free throws? Isn't that a big surprise ...

And those are these Lakers, without a real superstar except for Bryant (Gasol, Odom, Bynam ... are good, but not superstars). Back when Shaq was playing for Lakers he alone was shooting 15-20 free throws per game.

 

No they didn't lead the league, that stat is the lakers vs. their opponents. I'll get their league ranking in a sec

 

They were 7th in the league in free throws attempted. Behind Denver, Golden State, Utah, Phoenix, Orlando, and Philadelphia.

Again, hardly preferential treatment the facts speak for themselves

 

How about playoffs only stats?

 

Playoffs last year they were 7th again. This time behind Denver, Utah, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas and New Orleans.

Here is the link so you can check any stats you would like:

http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball...s/02/1/fta/8-1

I did a quick check on the 01-02 playoffs and they were 6th for free throws attempted behind the Kings who were 5th.

 

That still doesn't change the fact that Game 6 was fixed.

In Game 6 Lakers had 40 free throws, Kings 28. Lakers had same number of free throws in 4th quarter alone as Kings in the entire game (Kings had only 9 free throws in the 4th quarter). In the last 3 minutes Lakers shot 16 free throws.
Kings big guys had 20 fouls and Shaq got 4?

http://www.nba.com/games/20020531/SACLAL/boxscore.html

 

Kings choked.

Why would the refs choose to start fixing the game in the 4th? Why not prevent the Lakers from being down so much in the first place?

 

First of all, it wasn't Game 4. It was Game 6. Kings were up 3-2 and a win in Game 6 would send them to NBA finals. NBA did not want to see that, they wanted to see Game 7 (no issues with refs in Game 7).

Second of all, if Game 6 wasn't fixed why are so many people talking saying that it was fixed? And this was way before Donoghy said anything, whereever you read anything about that Game 6 they will talk about referees more than game itself.

Game 6 was fixed and the entire world saw it (except maybe for Lakers fans who pay more attention when someone pulls Kobe's jersey than when Shaq brakes other player's body parts).

Even the following year (2003) against Minnesota in western finals, I remember some really bad calls in Lakers favor.

 

It wouldn't have anything to do with James becoming the best player in the league?

 

Best? Not so much.

But the most popular? That might play the biggest role. Whoever sells tickets, jerseys and souvenirs gets special privilages.

 

I stated "becoming the best" which he is indeed, unless you have a conspiracy theory for why the NBA isn't allowing him to become a great player.


You need to let this conspiracy theory lie to rest . . . .

And why would the NBA want to "help" Kobe in 2006 when his popularity was still low following the incident in Colorado?

And regarding your game six foul fest . . . how many times did LA drive to the baskets as opposed to the Kings shooting from the outside?

 

He's one of the best players in the league, but that wouldn't matter if he wasn't popular (which he is). Take guys like Chris Paul from Hornets as an example. He's is the best playmaker in the league, but he doesn't get as much attention as he deservices. Even guys like Rondo from Celtics get more attention.
By the way, James did got to the finals once, against the Spurs. If I'm not mistaken, those finals got the worst television rating in a while.

Even if they drove to the basket on every play 16 free throws in the final 3 minutes, when the game is on the line, is a nonsence.

People were talking how that game was fixed even before Donoghy said anything. Why would they do that? Did all of those people start hating Lakers all of the sudden?
Open any online article, watch any video from that game - bad calls in Lakers favor is what people will still be taking about. Open any youtube video and nobody will talk how great Kobe was or that Webber almost had a triple double. They will talk only how bad refs call were.
Watch the game again, fouls were called on Divac and Pollard even if they looked the wrong way at Shaq. And Shaq was killing everyone around him and he still had only 4 fours.

 

No Zoran, I meant in the 4th quarter. If you're going to fix a game, why let the Lakers get down big and then start giving them calls in the 4th quarter?

It would make a lot more sense to fix it from start to finish...

 

Lakers were not down in the 4th quarter, it was a tie (or close to being tie) game.

In the minal ~5 minutes Lakers kept shooting free throws because they couldn't score any other way.

 

Regardless though, if you're gonna fix a game you'd be smart about it. You wouldn't let the margin become that wide to where its so obvious

 

Maybe because they were being fouled on every play?

 

Yeah, because that's what teams do - they foul on every play with 3 minutes left when game is tied.

Yeah, right ...